MANY CONCERNED ABOUT DWINDLING RESERVATION GAME HERDS
A lot of people are becoming alarmed at the scarcity of game on the reservation and a few people are starting to.demand strong protective measures.
In the last issue of Char-Ko-osta, Louis Adams pointed out the diminishing game population to the Tribal Council and asked for "some regulations or something" before the situa-
tion gets worse. In a letter to the Council which appears in this issue (page 4), forester Dan Swaney urges the council to take action to protect the tribes wildlife resource.
Some people; are starting to wonder whetner regulations will be enough to bring back the once abundant game. Tribal Councilman Vic Stinger told the Council last month
that "there seems to be a basic conflict between resource management on the reservation and good game habitat". Stinger noted a forest-wide environmental impact statement completed earlier this year which indicated that the reservation game range was carrying only about ten-percent of the animals that could be sustained on the available
browse. Stinger said that the Council must insist that forestry design timber harvest schedules "with wildlife management in mind".
As an example of what he called "poor overall multiple use management", Stinger pointed out the recently approved Ervine logging unit west of Elmo. "I voted to
(...see GAME on page 6)
THE NEWSPAPER OF THE SALISH, PEND d ORIELLES AND KOOTENAI TRIBES OF THE FLATHEAD RESERVATION
15 e
HAR-KOOSTA
Volume 4 Number 15
NEW MOON OF CONTINUOUS SNOW
December 1,1974
HUNDREDS ATTEND
CENTER OPENING
Ronan: Hundreds of people were on hand Nov. 20, at the Kicking Horse Job Corps to toast a new recreational building dedicated to the center's late director, Wayne Hamel.
The toasting was sober... hard Job Corps coffee following a moving dedication address by Tribal Councilman Tom "Bearhead" Swaney. Swaney called Hamel "that incredible man" and recalled growing up with him in Dixon. "He was always dedicated to whatever it was he was doing... that is the way he lived...that is the way he died",Swaney said. Hamel was killed in an automobile accident in 1973 while returning from fighting a forest fire all night near Thompson Falls.
But the ceremony was also happy. The new recreational complex is a fine building in which the 150 corpsmen at the tribally contracted center can spend their leisure hours. They can also be proud of it because, as Director Dave Mc-Guigan said, "They made it". Most of the work...the carpen-
try, the plumbing, the decorating...was done by corpsmen and their supervisors.McGuigan said much of the material that went into the 7,000 square foot building came from the reservation, from the rock facing on the foyer, to the hand-Bplit cedar shakes on the roof. Tribal Religious Leader John Arlee, who delivered the Salish invocation, said of the new center, "It must have a sound foundation, it was built with the spirit and love of the Indian corpsmen..."
Also attending the ceremony was John Stetson, national director of the Department of Labor Manpower training project.
During the ceremony, medallions and paintings were awarded to persons who had contributed to the completion of the building. Ignace Couture, a member of the Job Corps staff, presented paintings to Stetson, Mrs. Cathy Hamel, Swaney, Gov. Thomas Judge and Tribal Council Chairman
...CENTER (continued on page 3)
ROSE CLINE IS NEW SUD
St.Ignatius: Rose Cline, a tribal member with 15 years of experience in Indian health, has been named Service Unit Director for the Flathead Public Health Service in St.Ignatius.
Mrs. Cline, 44, was notified of her appointment to head Indian health services on the reservation Nov. 15 by Area PHS Director Jim Smith. She is the only woman to head a PHS unit in the Billings district which includes Montana and Wyoming.
Mrs. Cline replaces Wayne McMullen as SUD. McMullen resigned the position in Sept. to become an Indian social worker in Oklahoma.
Mrs. Cline was one of 13 applicants for the vacant position. She was endorsed by the Tribal Council on Nov. 13 during a review of applications with Area Programs Officer" T.J. Harwood.
Mrs. Cline has been Admin-Turn to CLINE on next page
DUPUISON
TRIBAL
BENCH
Dixon: "All people...Indian or White...who seek justice in the Tribal courts should be able to find it." That is the goal new Chief Tribal Judge Donald Du-puis has set for his tenure on the bench.
Dupuis, 42, was appointed Chief Judge last month by the Tribal Council. He is a former pharmeceutical salesman and is currently the manager of two reservation smoke shops.
The University of Montana graduate, told Char-Koosta that his first objective as Chief Judge is "to upgrade the law and order system and to make it more responsive and more effective". He said he is currently working with former chief judge Josephine Neuman and Police Chief Lloyd Jackson in wrapping up a two year project of rewriting the entire tribal law code. He said the new code would not only fill in some of the "gray areas" that exist in the current proceedure
£..see Dupuis on page 2)